Here’s What St. Catherine’s Monastery Is Known For (& How To Visit)
Churches, temples and monasteries have an old-world charm that leaves travelers in awe. That’s why buildings like Hagia Sophia, Greek for “Holy Wisdom,” are among the most famous buildings in the world. They are also among the most visited. Old-world charm aside, akin to our fascination with wrinkles, white hair, and crow’s feet, religious buildings are also some of the finest architectural marvels. For example, think of St. Peter’s Basilica. A 19th-century writer described it as “better than the boulevards, than Piccadilly or Broadway”.
In this article, we travel this fascinating Old World road to St. Catherine’s Monastery. It’s a trip that will impress both history buffs and beauty lovers alike. And to shorten the track, St. Catherine’s Monastery is known to be the oldest continuously inhabited Christian monastery in the world. That’s why it’s worth a visit.
Here’s why you should visit St. Catherine’s Monastery
As we have seen, St. Catherine’s Monastery is the oldest continuously inhabited Christian monastery in the world. It’s worth a visit for that alone. It was built in the 6th century. AD 530 to be exact. So the building is around 17 centuries old and was built before the memorable schism of the Christian world in the 11th century. In the presence of such a time capsule one feels small and vulnerable. It was founded by a man who would leave an indelible footprint even in the sands of time. Emperor Justinian I – who founded the monastery – is considered the last great emperor of Rome. Apparently, the hermit monks who settled there were often victims of robbers. So Justinian wanted a structure that would give them some level of protection. And so the idea of the monastery was born.
According to the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, St. Catherine’s Monastery deserves recognition as one of the earliest monastic settlements in the Eastern tradition. But that’s not all. The structure exhibits an “intimate relationship between natural grandeur and spiritual devotion”. It has served its original purpose uninterruptedly – for an incredible 17 centuries – and continues to do so to this day. The building also offers a window, one of the clearest in the world, into early Byzantine architecture. And yes, St. Catherine’s Monastery is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
More reasons why you should visit St. Catherine’s Monastery
As we shall see, there are other reasons why St. Catherine’s Monastery is quite a spectacle. First of all, it is at the foot of the biblical Mount Sinai, from where God gave the Ten Commandments to the people. In fact, the official name of this famous monastery indicates such a connection. Its official name is “Holy Monastery of Mount Sinai Entered by God”. That alone makes it a place that touches on the heritage of three faiths: Christianity, Islam and, of course, Judaism. But that, important as it seems, doesn’t quite sum up the importance of St. Catherine’s.
In terms of books and the whole world of literature, St. Catherine’s Monastery houses one of the oldest continuously used libraries. Thousands of books, the pages of which are now fragile and gray, are in his famous library. Manuscripts can also be found here, some in Arabic, Latin or Greek – but some in languages long lost. One of these is a prescription written by the Greek physician Hippocrates, the father of medicine. This is his oldest known recipe in the world. The monastery also contains the Codex Sinaiticus, which many scholars believe to be the oldest text in the Gospels.
How to visit St. Catherine’s Monastery
St. Catherine’s Monastery is located in South Sinai – on the Sinai Peninsula – near a small town of the same name. It is this remote area that connects Africa to Asia. It is a thirsty, mountainous area with an almost unbearable climate. It is 444 km from Cairo to St. Catherine’s Monastery. While you can hire a car and just drive to St. Catherine’s Monastery yourself, the best advice would be to hire a tour guide or rent a car with a driver who knows the area well. Of course there are also daily buses from Cairo to St. Catherine. They leave Cairo at 11am, take about seven hours – and arrive at St. Catherine’s around 6pm.
- How much do I pay to enter St. Catherine’s Monastery? Luckily, entry to St. Catherine’s Monastery is free.
For those arriving from Cairo, it is advisable to buy the ticket a day in advance and be at the bus station an hour before departure. Here is the clincher. There is accommodation in the monastery. So you don’t have to worry about spending the night outside in the desert cold and in the middle of nowhere.
Here’s the truth. Few buildings in the world are as steeped in history as St. Catherine’s Monastery.